The streak started Sept. 20. That's the same day the Green Bay Police Department held a meeting with community leaders in an effort to better connect with a group of young people linked to half of the city's shootings this year.

Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith called the special meeting with about 20 community leaders after the department began connecting a number of the crimes to the group. Community leaders included influential people from churches, schools, activist groups and mentoring programs.

"At the time, we had two unrelated incidents of people being shot. African-American men being shot by other African-American men," Smith said. "But also this little group of youngsters (connected to half of the related shootings) were a group of young African-American people. We started thinking, 'What else can we do? What can we be doing better?' The meeting was us connecting with local leaders from the African-American community and asking, 'Can you help us?'"

Smith added that while the meeting at the department was the first of its kind that he can recall, the department has historically held events across Green Bay as a way for law enforcement to form trusting relationships with residents of all backgrounds, and for the agency to better understand issues the city's diverse communities are facing.

Following the meeting, many of the community leaders planned to have discussions with those involved in the related gunfire, as well as other local youth, to try to inspire better, safer decisions going forward.

The correlation between the meeting in September and the overall drop in shootings is unclear, but those who attended agree the meeting helped foster stronger connections between law enforcement and the public, as well as created a larger support network for at-risk youth.

“A couple of (the leaders) stepped up, and a lot of them are doing stuff from behind the scenes,” Smith said. “Whatever they did in conjunction with what we were doing could have been just the right thing.”

Green Bay shooting stats 2018

There have been 18 verified shootings in Green Bay so far in 2018. Smith said arrests haven't been made in all cases, but investigators have determined 9 of the 18 shootings are related in that they all involve the same small group of young people who know each other.

Green Bay Police investigate a shooting near the 800 block of East Walnut in Green Bay on Aug. 14.(Photo: Samantha Hernandez/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Smith said the Dec. 6 Chicago Street shooting, in which a man was shot in the arm, could make the number of related shootings jump to 10 because "it is likely" linked to the other related incidents. However, the Western Avenue shooting on Monday, during which a 23-year-old man was shot multiple times, "is by all indications completely unrelated to the others."

Four of the 18 shootings this year resulted in someone being shot. None have resulted in a death.

One of the shootings that caused injuries, an Aug. 14 shooting in the 300 block of South Webster Avenue, is one of the nine incidents of gunfire linked to the same group of young people. Smith said the other shootings linked to the group involve shots fired at homes or cars as “demonstrations of anger or power” in reaction to an argument or in retaliation. Smith said these shootings are just as serious because regardless of intent, any time a gun is fired, especially in a city, it could result in an injury or death.

Detective Cmdr. Jim Runge said most of the related shootings started with petty, "low-level disputes" — such as a small drug debt, "a beef involving someone's girlfriend," "or even that guy lives on the west side of town and the other guy lives on the east and they don't like each other" — and then the fight escalates.

While investigators still are trying to figure out if the Chicago Street shooting is related, police say it is believed to have started over a "drug transaction."

The hope is, Smith said, the trend of no gunfire that had been established earlier this year returns and sticks.

Response, results

One shooting is one too many, Smith said, but the decline the city had seen in gunfire since the September meeting is notable. This, after there had been at least one verified report of shots fired every month from April until the September meeting at the police department.

At the meeting was Harry Sydney, former Green Bay Packers player and founder and president of My Brother's Keeper — a mentoring program for men and boys in Green Bay. He said the meeting helped address a "perceived problem within a community." Though, he added, if he's learned anything from his own profession, it's that circumstances surrounding crime and behavior are dynamic.

“I tend to take issue when a problem is looked at as just black or white,” he said. “When I look at these cases (of related gunfire) I don’t see black men. I see men that just happen to be black. This isn't a black thing. This is a man thing. This is a poor thing. This is a stupid thing. You’ve got to get to the root of the issue."

Following the meeting, Sydney said, he had discussions with a number of young people about the crimes and urged them to “dream bigger.” He said he thinks most of the related shootings are the result of young people making reckless decisions, and not thinking about their lives past a moment of frustration.

He said he also sees a trend in the crimes, and others like them, of all kinds of young men, likely of poor upbringings, lacking an understanding of what it means to be successful.

He said many young men today without strong role models are driven by materialistic things and the respect or status they think they deserve for having them. When they perceive someone as showing them disrespect, that’s when decisions are made without considering the consequences.

Sydney said he commends the police department for making themselves accessible and recognizing there is, and should be, more than one way of policing. He added that a large support network encouraging local youth to make better decisions will resonate far better than just one person telling them what they should and shouldn’t be doing.

Mohammed Bey, director of diversity and inclusion at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, wasn't at the meeting, but has attended many other law enforcement events held at Divine Temple Church of God in Green Bay. He said the effort the police department is putting into connecting with the black community, and all groups, is something other agencies need to adopt. He said it's the best way to ensure that when something is wrong, people feel comfortable contacting the police.

"They're looking at relative data points and addressing communities where these crimes are more apparent and they're welcoming feedback and offering support," he said.

Pastor L.C. Green of Divine Temple was at the meeting. He said he has since had some one-on-one discussions with families to try to steer both kids and families in the right direction.

He said he's always made an effort in church to send a message of how important it is that parents are involved in the lives of their children as much as possible.

"I've even had to tell some other family members, 'the police are talking about your nephews and it's getting ridiculous,'" he said. "Nobody wants to have to worry about ducking and diving from bullets. It's really appreciated that the chief, the department, is talking to people from all communities, and leaders of those communities, who have the insight of what we're dealing with and can help make the city safer for everyone. We're stronger together."